Bad Blood
by jesughs
Summary: Brother and sister pair Darren & Marcy are runaways, fleeing their gang-ridden hometown for the friendly village of Crispin in an attempt to escape their past. But what happens when Crispin isn't as sweet as they thought it would be? Can one truly leave behind their past, or will it inevitably catch up with them? Find out in the compelling Animal Crossing fan-fiction, Bad Blood.
1. Chapter 1

The fresh, earthy and unfamiliar aroma of our new home was rudely interrupted by a thick, black smoke trailing behind the cab we had been in only moments ago.

Marcy gagged, and I muffled my coughs with the sleeve of my shirt.

"Who does that? Just speeds off and away with two people standing right behind their car. How rude!" Marcy exclaimed with disgust, as she heaved and lifted up her larger-than-life suitcase. Although our packing process was meant to be hurried, Marcy took her time cramming each and every article of clothing from her closet into her suitcase. She could barely zip the thing.

Bells jingled above our heads as we pushed through the door and into the town hall. A young, bright-eyed pelican looked us up and down, beaming. "Ah, hello!" she chimed, clapping her two wings together. "You two must be the new villagers! Welcome, welcome!" Why was she so excited to see us? For all she knew, we could be murderers on the run! She probably just didn't want to drive us away. It seemed as if the whole town of Crispin was sugar-coated especially for our arrival. It was a nice relief, having a kind and friendly little city to live in. Definitely a few steps up from Marcy and me's old home, where gunshots were about an as common sound as the birds humming their songs.

"Yes, my name's Marcy and this is Darren." Marcy replied sweetly, saving me from having to introduce myself. The thing about Marcy and I was that we were almost complete opposites-I'm deathly afraid of any form of social interaction, and Marcy's glad to talk to anybody. For some odd reason we still get on happily.

"Oh, wow. May I say, it's nice to have a young, good-looking couple like the two of you to move in around here." the pelican behind the desk said with a wink.

"What? Oh, God, no. We're not a couple. Marcy's my sister." I announced, shocked that she would even assume such a thing. For one, I looked about 4 years older than Marcy (which I was). But aside from that we looked like twins, both sharing the same dark hair.

"Oops, I'm so sorry. My, what an awkward assumption. Anyways, I'm Pelly. I work here at the town hall. Um, the two of you should probably go out and settle down. Tom Nook's setting up a house for you, I believe. He's out there somewhere, it shouldn't be hard to find him." Pelly told us hurriedly, in an attempt to make up for her strange guess about our relationship, I presumed. "I have a feeling you will love it here in Crispin. It's a small, refreshing little village." Pelly said, smiling. "Just," she continued, her smile fading. "try to stay in at night. We've been having some... forgot it." she ended, shaking her head. Her eyes were full of a bottled up worry. We would soon find out what for.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow, I can't believe she thought we were... together." Marcy said, with a weird shiver.

"I know, how awkward, right?" I responded as we walked through the village. We were supposed to be finding this Tom Nook guy so we could finally settle into our new home, but it was taking longer than we'd thought.

"Ho ho! If it isn't you, Darren and Marcy!" a voice chuckled in the distance.

"What? Who's there?" I growled, defensively stepping in front of Marcy in order to shelter her from whomever was calling out to us.

"Yikes, don't be so hostile, boy. It's only me, Tom Nook!" a figure waved from faraway to us, supposedly Tom Nook. I took a deep breath, relieved it was only our new landlord and not an old "affiliate". We were supposedly to be done with that...

Marcy sprinted to the old racoon, leaving me in the dust. I bolted after her, not wanting her out of my sight. Soon enough, we were standing in front of the man himself, and a small house barely big enough for the both of us.

"So this is our house?" I sneered, panting as I placed my hands on my knees.

"I know, I know. It isn't very big now. But do not fret, it can be upgraded as you pay your mortgage." Nook assured, sporting a cheeky grin that seemed almost too cheeky.

"What's a mortgage?" Marcy asked, slowly approaching the old-looking home. She brushed her hand against it's wall and traced a crack running down.

"Ah, little one. A mortgage is-"

"Don't call me that." Marcy interrupted, fully spun around and facing Tom Nook.

"Excuse me, little girl?" Tom said with spite in his pitchy voice.

"I said, don't call me little. Get it?" Marcy boldly and stubbornly retorted, folding her arms together. Sure, she had all the reason to argue-she was a fourteen year old girl, after all. Not exactly "little"-but why did she have to pick a fight with the guy who was giving us a house to live in.

"Woah, woah, Marcy. Calm down. Sorry, Mr. Nook. Uh, she's kind of..." I paused, searching for the right word to call my sister. "fiesty." I finished, trying to smile it off.

Nook was not amused. "I know you're new here, but there's one thing you should learn fast. I'm the boss around here. No one messes with the likes of Tom Nook." he muttered threateningly, lowering his voice to a growl.

"I'm sure someone has messed with the "likes of Tom Nook" before. Hell, I just did!" Marcy snappily countered putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh, yes, of course. There's been plenty to disregard to unspoken authority. But they aren't around anymore. Catch my drift?" Nook grumbled, his snout nearly touching Marcy's ski-slope nose. Her piercing blue eyes were locked on his, and she remained still, unmoved by his closeness.

"Okay, let's stop now." I said, stepping in between the two. I smiled and clasped my hands together. "Thank you so much for this lovely home, Nook. We truly appreciate it and will be paying our mortgage like the good samaritans we are. Now, if you'll excuse us, we must get to unpacking. Goodbye!" and with that I dragged Marcy into the house, locking the door behind us.

"What a weirdo..." Marcy grunted as she threw her suitcase to the ground. She pulled her dark chocolate brown hair out of its ponytail and shook it around, allowing it to flow down to just above her elbows. She blinked her ice cold eyes and batted her thick eyelashes. Then she gave me one of her signature grins where her seashell pink lips turned up in the slightest, mischievous smile. She was so precious. I couldn't afford for anything to ever happen to her. Judging by the display she showed to Nook, one could tell she didn't like being called little. But she was my little sister, and she'd always be that. And it's a big brother's job to take care of his little sister, right? That's why we left in the first place, I had to protect her. But was it really safer here in Crispin, this eerily sweet town, than in our old, grimy apartment? I had no choice but to think that yes, it was.


	3. Chapter 3

"Darren, get your lazy butt up!"

My eyelids peeled open to reveal my two ocean-blue eyes. I sat up in my creaky excuse-of-a-bed and rubbed my eyes. Marcy stood in front of me, her hair pulled up in two long pigtails. "What the... Marcy. It's so early..."

"I know, but we can't just spend our new life here in Crispin sleeping the days away. We've got to go out and meet our new neighbors! Come on, Darren. You yourself said this would be different. You said it wouldn't be the same as it used to be, and now here you are trying to sleep 'til the moon shines. I wouldn't allow it!" she demanded, turning up her perky nose.

She was right, how could I deny it? I stepped out of bed reluctantly and quickly threw on my clothes. I wasn't going to let my little sister down like I had so many time before.

The sun was gleaming high, and wispy clouds were sparsely spread along the span of blue that we call the sky. Blades of grass at the perfect exact length were greener than green, and colorful flowers sprouted from the supple ground. It was like a paradise, an absolute utopia. But I knew better than to believe in perfection. Or so I thought I had.

Macy was convinced that we had to introduce ourselves to each and every one of our neighbors before sundown, which seemed like mission impossible to me. But I went along with it anyways, because I had to make her happy.

The first home we visited was inhabited by a grey bear named Curt. It was the first house Marcy saw, so naturally she ran up to it and knocked on the door non stop until finally it was swung open in brute fashion. "What do you wa-oh, hello there!" the bear's grumpy attitude soon turned suave as he laid eyes on my sister. "My, oh my, I've never seen a girl as cute as you, darling." he smoothly chuckled. Marcy laughed, turning as red as the beets planted in the ground. "Say, why don't you come in, girly. Introduce yourself to me." the bear smirked as he inched closer to Marcy, placing his hand against the wall next to her.

"Sounds great." I grunted, revealing myself as I stood behind Marcy. "I'm her brother, Darren." I folded my arms and puffed out my chest, trying to look masculine.

"Hm. I had a rule of no chumps in the house, but I'll let it slide this time, fuzzball." he muttered, ushering us into his humble abode.

"You have a nice home." Marcy complemented, looking around as she recovered from her blush attack.

"It looks even nicer with you in it. By the way, I'm Curt." our neighbor grinned, looking down at Marcy as a starving man looks upon a five-course meal.

"Aw, aren't you a flirt?" Marcy giggled, placing her hands on her hips. Sometimes Marcy was too open with strangers. I don't think she understood that people could be bad, she liked to think that there was good in everyone, a mindset that got her into plenty trouble. "I'm Marcy." she chimed, extending her hand for a shake. But instead Curt placed a paw around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"Save the handshakes for oafs like your brother over there." he said, nearly breathing onto Marcy's face. She had a look mixed with distress and content. I imagined Marcy enjoyed being the apple of every guy she ever met's eye, she did love attention. But perhaps she just didn't know how to say no. That left me as the only one to say it for her.

"Alright, buddy. Hands off. We're just here for a friendly introduction, alright?" I interrupted, once again lowering my voice.

"This is a friendly introduction, fuzzball. Just a bit more friendly than you've ever been introduced." he chuckled, brushing his paw through Marcy's loose hair which had been removed from it's original pigtailed style.

"Don't be rude, my brother's only trying to protect me." Marcy said sweetly, trying to wriggle out from Curt's tight hold. "Now could you... let go. You're kind of... squeezing me." Marcy gasped.

"Baby, it's only 'cause you look so squeezable."

"Okay, enough!" I stomped over to the two and pulled Marcy off of the brute. "Nice meeting 'ya, Curt. See you around!" I pulled Marcy out of the house and slammed the door shut behind us.

"Well he seemed nice." Marcy said happily.  
"Yeah, real nice." I remarked sarcastically. We trudged on to meet more of our "nice" neighbors.


End file.
